Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir loved painting flowers. He even once said: “When I am painting flowers, I can experiment boldly with tones and values.” He also said: “what seems to me most significant about our movement [Impressionism] is that we have freed painting from the importance of the subject. I am at liberty to paint flowers and call them flowers, without their needing to tell a story.”
The painting we present today is evidence of how good he was with a still-life genre. The lush petals and lively leaves emerge from a crystal vase, each element meticulously shaped yet bursting with energy. This vibrancy is enhanced by the background and tabletop, where luminous jewel tones are applied with a spontaneity that borders on abstraction. For Renoir, painting botanicals was a return to his roots. At age 13, he began his career by painting flowers on porcelain at the Sèvres workshop. Following the workshop’s shift to mechanization in 1858, Renoir departed to pursue formal art studies.
P.S. In our stunning Flowers in Art postcard set, you will find more flower still-lifes by Renoir. Check it out in the DailyArt Shop! :)
P.P.S. Pierre-Auguste Renoir was one of the most vibrant painters among the Impressionists. Explore Renoir's life, which was just as vivid as his art!